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Subscribe to RSSLibyan Jewish exile David Gerbi visited the abandoned Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli Saturday, and said that he is the first Jew to return to Libya since the revolt that ousted Moammar Gadhafi.
The 12-year-old Gerbi and his family fled Tripoli in 1967 when an Arab-Israeli war stoked anger against the Jewish
Suhaib Salem / Reuters
Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi prays inside Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli on October 1. Gerbi and his family fled Tripoli in 1967 when an Arab-Israeli war stoked anger against the Jewish state and led to attacks on Jews in his neighborhood.
Joseph Eid / AFP - Getty Images
A picture shows the Ten Commandments written in Hebrew on stone tablets on top of an abandoned synagogue in the Libyan capital Tripoli on September 28. The Jewish community in Libya dates back to the third century BC and at its peak numbered around 38,000 people.
Suhaib Salem / Reuters
Libyan Jewish exile David Gerbi is helped by an anti-Gadhafi fighter upon exit from the Dar Bishi synagogue in Tripoli on October 1.
Reuters reports:
In the walled old city of Tripoli, Libya's independence flag pokes through crumbling buildings and a gang of children wielding toy pistols tear through dusty alleyways.
In these run-down streets stands the empty, faded peach-colored Dar Bishi synagogue.
The interior can only be seen by climbing up the rubble of a collapsed house and the ark, which would normally shelter the sacred Torah scroll, is instead stuffed with a mattress.
The Hebrew inscription above it "Hear, O Israel" is barely perceptible from wear, and empty paint cans are strewn across the floor. The site of the Mikve baths, used once for ritual cleansing, is now a trash dump where stray cats scour for food next to a discarded washing machine as veiled women look on. Continue reading.
Read the latest from Libya in our story, Red Cross gets medicine into besieged Sirte, and see more images from the conflict in our slideshow.
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He sure has a lot of media coverage compared to our protesters in NYC on Wall Street-something is wrong. One wrong is more important than wrongs of millions. What are people to think ?
Joe, the protests on Wall Street are a joke to most of us in this country. If there is need for protest, it should be taking place in front of the White House where the biggest threat to the future of this country currently resides. This being said by one who voted for the good talker-in-chief.
Nuts to you and your nihilistic fellow travelers. We will grind your faces into the dust.
Het Joe, I had to look up the word nihilistic to see who The Unit Toad was speaking to. Here's the answer:
1. Philosophy
a. An extreme form of skepticism that denies all existence.
b. A doctrine holding that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.
2. Rejection of all distinctions in moral or religious value and a willingness to repudiate all previous theories of morality or religious belief.
3. The belief that destruction of existing political or social institutions is necessary for future improvement.
4. also Nihilism A diffuse, revolutionary movement of mid 19th-century Russia that scorned authority and tradition and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society and government through terrorism and assassination.
5. Psychiatry A delusion, experienced in some mental disorders, that the world or one's mind, body, or self does not exist.
Toad was speaking to you and I thought it would be good to show you this definition, as based on your message, I didn't think you had what it would take to look it up. Thank you Toad, I enjoy learning new words.
It's a long established fact that single-tragedies impact us more than large tragedies. We react to the little puppy that fell down the well, while we're incapable of wrapping our minds around the hundreds of people who were rounded up and shot in Burma and every where else in the world. Just the way human's work, for some reason. The news does play on that.
K.
"What are people to think?"
What YOU want them to think by bringing up a point: that Jews control the media and the world, of course.
Why do you have such a cynical and paranoid interpretation of what looks and seems to be a touching and kind act on the part of that soldier assisting another human being visiting his family's homeland ?
Kharlos leaps into his bed from 5-feet away when he turns the lights off I bet. Afraid a Jew under his bed will grab him by the foot. The ignorance of these antisemites is astounding, isn't it?
Yes it is, and ignorance itself is astounding. Whatever topic there is in this venue, although granted no one can underestimate the power of individuallity, people like him go far and beyond the scope of decency, and sputter vile garbage for all to see all too often.
What are people going to think? Let's see..a country kicks out a whole segment of their citizens because of their religion and after 40+ years one of them returns. How dare he does that. Meanwhile, Wall Street protesters qnd the violence directed towards them is all over the Internet and in the papers.
Glad to know you think that kicking all of the Jews out of a country is just one wrong. Same old, same old.
No, because of their ethnicity. Libyans are mostly Arabs; some are Berber, Touareg, and whatnot. Jews are none of the above. It just happens that the majority of Jews are to greater or lesser extent adhering to Judaism, though I've met many Atheist Jews and even some Christian Jews.
Interesting deate. Kinda cool he is coming home. I was once told the bible talks about the Jews coming home before the rapture of the church by Jesus. Could it be?
No, it couldn't.
You don't know what you're talking about!
They killed Christ...Ask Mel Gibson...If the rapture comes...Jesus will be looking for payback...Hope he loses those 12 dudes...They make him look like he doesn't like chicks.
Typical. Let someone else fight their battles for them.
Israel does not need help to fight their wars. They have been under persecution for centuries and those nice neighbors of theirs are so peace loving. Ask those neighbors how they lost some of their lands in 1967 after attacking Israel? Israel kicked arse all by themselves.
no one should be forced out from their home, country due to their religion or beliefs,
unless their a threat to the community.
these were innocent people fleeing for their lives.
the same thing happened in germany and over europe during ww 2.
and what happened to Palestine!
Jordan happened.
@!$%# happens.
Mimi ask the Grand Mufti what happened. It was his PLO slaughtering eastern European Jews for Hitler.
The same thing happened to the Palestenians. When can they return to there homeland?
What was the capital of Palestine; What was it's currency; Who was it's leader before Arafat and Name some of their major cities. I say it ain't so. Prove it!
So this explains why all the Mexicans are coming back into the United States. Maybe now the Jews here can take their greed and go back to Tripoli or the stolen land they call the promised land.
your anti-semitism is showing ... keep your bile to yourself ... the article is more about being able to return to the land of your birth than about a religion
Athena, its all about religion, that's the only thing on the minds of jews except when and where they can kill anther Arab. Jews love war.
gary ,,,dont talk without knowing history
Your comment is one big bowl of wrong.
The Jews didn't steal that land. God gave them that land (Israel) forever. It is so called Palestine that is trying to steal land, namely the country of Israel. Israel will NEVER be be destroyed. They will always exist because God made a covenant with them. Its that bunch of diaper heads that will eventually be destroyed in the end.
^ Oh yeah...They have a deed signed by the lord....
Evict them...They never met the guy.
.
Hope he stays safe as for the protesters in ny seems to me pot heads and dead beats.
You hate pot heads...Yet your name is bud...
Ironic?
Bud, they are over educated deadbeats, but deadbeats the none the less.
Merrill-1029065 get a clue. Not all Jews are Jewish. The HasiDick Jews hate non HasiDick Jews as much as Hitler hated the Christians 8 million and 6 million greedy Jews.
And what happened to Palestine!
Jordan happened.
I wonder if the "fair and balanced" jewi$h media plan on doing a story next on the millions of Palestinians forced from their homes because of their region and escort some of them them back to their old homesteads for photo ops.....never. Not in the controlled US media.
oh yeah mimi...the muslims are such angels...dont forget your cousins the TURKS genicide on the armenians and the greeks...if the muslims want any kind of sympathy, their not going to get it from the christians
This is remarkable to me- with all the articles and photos we see carried by many news agencies which cover muslim this and muslim that, this one article, just this ONE, that I have seen on any of the news services I look at, just this ONE little article, draws critical and anti-Semitic responses. It's just amazing to me. I for one am extremely happy to see an article like this. I am not Jewish, but I can certainly tell anyone reading this, that in my lifetime, my family and I have been significantly helped by interaction with some professionals who happened to be Jews. I have had several Jewish physicians who helped me a great deal, and a team of lawyers that helped me and my family when in dire need. I for one am grateful that these people knew their professions as well as they did, and still do. One physician in particular has helped me and several family members for many years, with discount appointments, and many free samples for medications after my husband died and I could never afford medical coverage again. I am just totally and sadly astonished to see people talking in an inflammatory way in some of the above comments. There are greedy and cruel people of every ethnic background, in every nation on earth, doing things every day that far exceed, in evil intent and effect, any complaint the above people think they may have. Again, I for one am touched by and grateful for this article. Incidentally, the Ten Commandments are the basis for all western hemisphere law. I suggest that before one of the above complainers start their foolish diatribes aagain, they thank God for the basic rules of common decency that were given to man thousands of years ago, which protect us all from total anarchy and depravity every single day.
Bonnie...thanks for providing a bit of fresh air in here... great post. Mr. Gerbi is a very brave man for walking into that mess in Libya just to visit his roots. But then again, I guess Jewish people have had to learn to be brave over the centuries of persecution. Really a shame when you think about all of the good that they have done for humanity over the years...in any event...HAPPY NEW YEAR.
gary hanson,,youre an idiot...you have no idea of history,,dont talk...and im not a jew,,,or friend of the jews
Many of the those commenting should learn the difference between Israelis and Jews. Not all Jews are Israelis. Not all Jews are Zionists. Not all Jews back Israel's policies. Jews come in all styles just like Muslims, Arabs, Christians and the list goes on.
The anti-semitism that many have expressed is sad for the entire world. When will those bigoted people realize that one entire race is not evil?
The world is full of good and bad but to hate one group because you stereotype 8 million people (with the most negative of stereotypes) is just ignorant.
ibog, what a wonderful post. We need to remember that God is the Father of all, both the just and unjust. Each will reap according to his manner of living. We must not add to the hate we must work to eliminate it. Read the Parable of the Good Samaritian, and get a commentary on it, it is a powerful story.
You do not know your history go back to school and find out who stole what from whom Israel belongs to the Jews from the time they left the slavery of Pharoh no not yesterday but this goes back several thousand years but your teachers probably never learnt it or they ripped the text out of your books or maybe you should rip out your hate first and then search for the truth
come down GRANDMA,,there not the only people that god chose...stop making them look like there the only people that god loves...they are not angels either...
greek you have to wake up open your heart we are all people if we behave and love so you can start behaving maybe you will see things in a different light. Now it depends if you have a rotten tree with some good fruit or a healthy tree with some rotten apples.
There goes the neighborhood. God gave it to them?
Israel is a little country surrounded by enemies! Those same enemies are the enemies of America! God bless Israel and the Jews! God Bless America! This man is amazing to go to a land that is probably still very hostile to Jews to his pray in the synagogue! They kill Arabs because the Arabs are trying to kill them! They aren't going to let anyone try and exterminate them again! I just pray that Israel has oil and we could use that! We don't need to be entangled with Arabs and at their mercy! Why don't the oil rich Arabs help their Palestinian brothers instead of putting them into camps? They hate the Jews and use the Palenstinians to do their dirty work!
ROBERT youre rite..even their brothers want nothing to do with them...i know many muslims of all nationalities,and they all tell me the same thing..they dont want the palestinians in their homeland...all they know how to do is multiply and multiply...the only thing that matters to them is their religion,,they use it for all their axcuses...not to mention they look at their women as second class citizen...even when they live in any western country.....i think we shouldnt allow them to live here untill they show respect to our women and our laws..
Such Arab haters here. When you use the word Arab, you should remember that there are millions of Christian Arabs and to "assume" that everyone is Muslim or evil is demonizing an entire race of people. How dare you tell others that they don't know history or that they're stupid when it's obvious you have no idea about history or religion. Our numeric system is arabic and and algebra and many positive things came from Arabs. It's time to hate the Arabs because of some evil terrorists? Be fair and read. The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Take away the evil doings of some and you can quickly Google Arab accomplishments and you'll see that there are many contributions including: math, astronomy,medicine, navigation and geography, architecture, horticulture, crafts, language and calligraphy, music, philosophy and many more such as some of our own Hollywood actors. Don't hate what you don't know about. Not everyone is a terrorist.
Yes, it's true. The Jews learn their lessons very well. Clearly, they intend to do to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to them. Of course, this would not be possible without the connivance of their Lord Protector, the USA. But the US Empire is crumbling and time is running short for the Zionists! To paraphrase the Holy Bible, lest those days be shortened.... Well, the master plan is probably this: all the Palestinians on the West Bank will be deported to the Gaza Strip, which is a latter- day Warsaw Ghetto, anyway, and then the Zionists will drop the Neutron Bomb on them, thus exterminating them and providing the Final Solution to the "demographic crisis".
Kharlos....you forgot to mention Banking
Hanson and all of you that think you have it all right did you do some reading lately like the news???? Did you learn some history??? I do not know how old you are but you sound like you never made it passed grade one. First about the news, I see in the papers and hear the news and all those unfortunate Muslims and Arabs killed daily by their own brothers and sisters blow themselves up being brainwashed they will receive 40 virgins and burning and murdering the ones that oppose their views wow you have not noticed that in the news, where did you see that the Jews killed Arabs every day, maybe it said something like some terrorist were killed, and that is soooooo terrible? Applaud them, whoever killed those terrorists are protecting YOU and me and everyone else and the Israelis protecting themselves of daily terror is sooooo terrible. Why? This is nothing about Jews and Arabs this is about people that hate, for you are a hateful soul that probably would vote to wipe them off the map for one reason and one reason only that is hate. I hope you find some peace and heal in your sick soul
wahhh wahhh wahhhh... unbelievable how you all take a story about a journey back to his roots and turn it into a hate story. If the Jews didn't take over Israel, it would still be a desert! UnFreakin Believable!
Try telling B of A that "god" gave you the land you live upon...The sheriff will toss you off in a heartbeat for the almighty dollar....
exactly what is a semite?
The Ashkenazi come from the Russian Caucasus steppes. They're Khazars. They killed 20 million Christian Russians in the Bolshevik Revolution.
What is a jew? Is it blood or religion? How exactly is this defined? Surely one people can't be so much trouble all over the world? What can possibly be the basis for such comdemnation? The Balfour Declaration gave them Palestine without so much as a thought for the people. There were people of all religions living peacefully together and the next thing you know, There are Zionist terrorists kiiling thousands of innocents and forcing them out of their homeland to establish their own state. You see it in history all the time. The winners get to say what's right. GOD will let them know about it as HE sees fit and when.
Libya overthrew corrupt colonial tyranny. It developed the highest standard of living in Africa. Free education, free health, Sovereign currency, shared oil profits among all the people. The people ruled themselves by council, Ghaddafi was just a figurehead. They gave women equal rights and banking without usury. They had their own banking and development without central banking as ruled by the Rothschilds. They had a modern miracle in the man made river that was going to be the breadbasket of Africa. They were busy striving to create a US of Africa that would control their own resources for their own sakes and not for foreign interests.
All that is gone, now. These people are fighting for their lives against the very same terrorists that have been blamed for 9/11, 9/7 and all things terrorist. The very same monsters our government has declared the great evil terrorists, are now fighting by our side and that has allowed us to go into countries and take them over by force and hand them over to banksters and corporations. This is no different.
God chooses those who choose Him first....on an individual basis. Israel is not blameless. Jews are not the chosen people. If you believe that they are, then you have to believe that they gave up that right when they crucified the messiah that God sent to them because they didn't like the message. [He was messing up their money and prestige, what's a Pharisee to do?] God is God of All. All over the universe.
It is the height of human ego and arrogance to think that, out of all the universe, we are the chosen religion of God...yet many believe just that. Forgive me for saying so, but the Jews depend upon it. Remember the USS Liberty? You don't against the chosen people, nosirreebob! nope! nuhunh.....
Back in the biblical days, they were Judeans and Ethiopians, Hebrews. Jew didn't come up until the 18th century, by then the Rothschilds were running the show.
That any religion thinks that they have the right to kill, which goes against the above mentioned code/ ten commandments, is a blatant abuse and misuse of Divine tenants and laws. Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, all are guilty of disobedience. There are Divine consequences for such behavior. Don't think it's not coming.
That hired terrorists and mercenaries could get so far with help from NATO, only proves that world leadership has been bought and paid for by the banksters...who owns the banks, the media? Who are these people that are responsible for so much calamity and pain? Follow the money, it will lead you to the source.
Considering that anything we are given by the MSM for our daily pablum, has been arranged and presented for reasons known and unknown......It's a lovely story of return, the jews are back in Libya! Would that everyone could go home.
So much ignorance and hatred in one post. Did a Jew kick your puppy, kibodabi? Not hire you for a job? Stop looking for a scapegoat. Jews aren't responsible for your problems or the world's problems. .24% of the entire world population doesn't have control over anything. You want the Jews to go "home?" You first.
You kind of lost your whole point right here. Even the Catholic church (a thousand year plus holdout) finally admitted the Jews DIDN'T kill Christ. The Romans did. Sheesh.
I won't even bother with the REST of your rant.
lol...the Catholic church.....right....and who petitioned them to do that? Who delivered Christ up to the Romans? The Sanhedrin tried Him. Pilate and Herod both asked the Hebrews if this is what they wanted and they said yes! Setting Him up to Rome for that 'king of the jews' thing was just a front. check your bible.
The Catholic Church fell into darkness years ago. How do you make the first day of the week the last day of the week and thus change the sabbath? how do you tell people not to go to God and Christ for help in your prayers but to turn to the pope? Who is greater, God or man?
"John 18:35
Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"
Pilate found no fault in Christ, but the chief priests insisted. they said that they had no king but Caesar and that Jesus had broken Roman law by saying that He was their king...even though they hated Caesar in the first place. but they took it upon their own heads...so be it. Now they try to blame Rome for what they insisted upon.
Christ would not take the throne of David and lead the Hebrews to conquer the Romans and then the world. That's the messiah they wanted. That's the one they're still waiting for, the great king that will lead them to their rightful place in the world...then again, after all this time, they may not be waiting anymore. I don't know.
so now, am i to believe the catholic church, or the book it has based itself upon, which it claims as holy scripture?
Since they rejected and murdered God's Messiah sent unto them and accepted the blame and the price....are they still the chosen people? Seems like a valid question to me.
actually, i grew up in a jewish neighborhood. They were my best friends and i love them dearly. I honestly have nothing against jews or anybody else, but facts are facts and where i am proven wrong, i will gladly say so and make the proper adjustments. All jews are not part of this zionist thing. i actually regret having to use the term jew because it includes people that have nothing to do with the problem.
perhaps i can stick to zionist...but that seems to be antisemitic also.
when i was a child, we were taught that two million jews died in WWII...now it's six million...i don't get how that happened. Nobody talks about the twenty million that died in Russia. The incident with the USS Liberty is off limits. The Kol Nidre is off limits. banking and corporate ownership issues is off limits. Treatment of Palestinians is off limits. The Balfour Declaration is of limits. These are all facts, simple facts.
to say that the whole problem has nothing to do with the policies of the Israeli goverment, is ludicrous. Are the Arabs blameless, hell no! European and American colonialism? Sure? There are lots of issues. But to say that Israel is simply surrounded by enemies when they helped make that situation what it is, and then decide that they should be supported no matter what they do, is just stupid. Let the blame fall where it should and stop with all the political correctness that makes people afraid to stand for the truth of the matter and address the issues for what they are.
I'm glad the guy got to return home..is he staying?
but there are bigger issues here an the story just doesn't seem all that important in the face of those issues. This is where media ownerdship gets questioned.
Just once, can we all take ownership of our crimes and sins and fess up and cut the crap?
is it going to be that hard for jews to admit that they haven't been exactly fair and straight with everybody?
For the palestinians to admit that they could straighten up their act and concentrate on themselves and let a country that isn't going anywhere live in peace?
is the whole of the world going to fall because of programmed hatred from the mideast?
Iran has a right to get what it can give itself, just like israel and other nuclear countries.
All of this fake horror at countries that haven't done half of what the U.S. has done.
Government and world body corruption run rampart, people are dying for no reason. we are being lied to and distracted with stories like this while real stuff is going on that matters a heck of a lot more.
none of you get this?
sigh
okay
majority rules...democracy....this is supposed to be a republic...a meritocracy....
maybe like you say
it's just me.....but i stand firm that israel has just as much to answer for as the rest of us and its time they started doing that. Giving the Palestinians their state would be a good first step. Israel started this mess through terrorist actions that are now heroic because they won. It's time they recognized that and allowed the Palestinians their stake in what's left of the country.
May God finally put His foot down
and show the truth for all to see
for all of you
and especially me........